The research, which is to be presented at the Black Hat security conference in late July and was spotted by Forbes, was born out of the idea of creating innocent-looking devices which could be used to hack phone. Describing their findings as "alarming", the researchers explain:

Their charger, Mactans—that's another name for the Black Widow spider—uses a small onboard computer to perform its underhand duties. In fact it's based on a Texas Instruments BeagleBoard, which retails at $45. While the resulting charger measures three inches square—bigger than your average power supply—it's still a worrisome proof of concept which could easily be squeezed into a smaller form factor if required, just at higher cost.

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Details are—fortunately!—scant about exactly how the device works, but the researchers claim that it can compromise iOS in under a minute, and that the malware infection is persistent and tough to spot. So, think twice about what your plug your phone into. [BlackHat via Forbes]